1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to pots or traps for capturing crabs and more particularly, to a trap which can be easily positioned properly by dropping or casting into the water and still further permits the capturing of crabs of a legal size, while permitting crabs of smaller size to escape the trap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The crabbing industry has increasingly faced cyclic harvest of crabs due in part to over crabbing or pollution. This has led governmental agencies to impose regulations on the length of the crabbing season and the size of crabs permitted to be captured during the crabbing season. Additionally, governmental regulations have addressed the problem of catching one species of crab during a particular season while outlawing the capturing of another species of crab during a particular season. These regulations have by and large been an attempt to increase the crab population and to increase the population of crabs which are permitted to obtain a certain size before capturing.
In normal practice, crab traps of the current variety do not distinguish between sizes, thus it is up to the individual to separate and return crabs that are either out of season or undersize.
There are many devices which are designed for crabbing and Applicant has provided a list and copies of those known to Applicant in the Disclosure Document filed herewith.
Applicant's contribution to the crab trap art is a crab trap which will allow entry of crabs into the trap, but which will also allow crabs of a certain size the ability to exit the trap without being captured. These crabs may exit the trap under their own mobility or they may be in fact flushed from the trap when the trap is pulled in by the individual.
Further, the design of the trap is an improvement over traps heretofore known in that the design allows for the trap to be easily dropped vertically into the water and positioned or allows for the trap to be tossed a distance, such as from a pier, or dock, before settling into the water and positioning itself on the bottom. The trap can then be either left submerged and unattended for a duration of time or intermittently retrieved.